HAIKU DIALOGUE – Turn of the Decade – Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

With heartfelt thanks to our guest editor for the last couple of months, Lori A Minor, for thought-provoking & interesting themes & prompts that elicited some excellent poetry! Today we present her final selections for ‘Turn of the Decade’.

I also want to take the opportunity to thank Craig Kittner, our other guest editor for many months in 2019 – thank you! And Lori Zajkowski, our volunteer who formats & schedules all the posts – thank you!

I urge anyone who might be interested in volunteering as a guest editor for a month or longer in 2020, please do let us know! This is the only way to truly sustain the feature, & the rewards for stepping up in this way are many….

With that said, we will be taking a break this week – we all deserve it! Next week we will begin again, with a special treat – a month of photographic prompts from renowned poet & photographer, guest editor Carole MacRury… please join us next week for her first column!

best wishes for the New Year, kj

Turn of the Decade – New Year’s Resolution

What a beautiful selection of goals for the new year that all show the diversity among our lives. I would like to sincerely thank Lori, kj, and everyone who submitted to this week’s prompt and to the Turn of the Decade series as a whole. What a lovely way to ring in the new year! I have thoroughly enjoyed being your guest editor and look forward to future endeavors with all of you. I wish you the best in 2020. May it be a year full of blessings, love, and poetry!

new years resolution
the warmth of it
already gone

Stephen Peters

Very rarely are New Year’s resolutions completed. We might start each year with the best intentions for personal goals, but the truth is no matter how much we want things to go our way, the universe has other plans. However, everything we experience in life ultimately lands us exactly where we should be. I just love this piece because it shows the “warmth” of these good intions, and the loss of the resolution. Whether or not it’s a good or bad loss is up for interpretation, which is the beauty of haiku.

new year’s day
my resolution covered
in chocolate

Roberta Beary
County Mayo Ireland

As someone who found a lot of chocolate in my stocking on Christmas morning, this poem is absolutely relatable and with as many chocolate lovers as I know, I’m sure I’m not the only one getting joy out of this haiku. After a long 2019, Roberta provides us with a scene that everyone is going to crave. A feel-good haiku that features a feel-good food!

same as last year
I’ll quit
after I finish this one

Charles Harmon
Los Angeles, California, USA

I feel that this haiku quite represents not only the cycle of life, but perfectly captures our love-hate relationship with New Year’s resolutions. The word choice here is quite delicate, providing layers I just want to keep digging through. What is “this one”? Is it cigarettes? Chocolate? Alcohol? Although we’ll never know what the author intended, or potentially struggles with, he leaves us with just enough blank space to insert our own vices, which is effortlessly brilliant.

winter’s end
proving I’m more
than my disease

Tia Haynes
Lakewood, OH

Another open-ended haiku as readers are left with just enough room to place their own mental and/or physical illness(es) within the word “disease”, which holds so much weight. However, this poem allows us to let go by providing a safe place that radiates with positive energy. This mindset is necessary to come to peace with everything that makes us “us” without being consumed by it. The resilience in this haiku is more than significant and the poet invites us into her world and sets a beautiful example of strength. We all need this gentle reminder that not only is it okay to heal, no matter how long the process takes, but that we are not alone. Finding inner peace, in my opinion, is the most graceful of New Year’s resolutions.

Lori Zajkowski is the Post Manager for Haiku Dialogue. A novice haiku poet, she lives in New York City.

Guest editor Lori A Minor is a feminist, mental health advocate, and body positive activist currently living in Norfolk, Virginia. She is the editor of #FemkuMag. Most recently, Lori gave a presentation on social awareness in haiku at Haiku North America 2019.

Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She is Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada, and her debut poetry collection is contractions (Red Moon Press, 2019).

Happy New Year to all. I was new here in the spring and appreciated the welcome I felt during a rough patch in my life.
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I will be generous
and let the new year
celebrate me
.
Anitha Varma
.
After adjusting to several losses the past year I found this bold and affirming. Thank you Anitha.
*
to race
the same shark
in the shallows
.
simonj
UK
.
I was thinking about this one on my way to work this morning. Came up with some personal meanings, and it has a nice ring to it.
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acceptance
for that which is
unacceptable
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~Autumn Noelle Hall
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My apologies–the sleep-deprivation of puppydom had addled my poet brain. On the up side, I’ve been communing with Orion at 2 am. On the downside, I forgot to send along my poem this week! As such, I can absolutely relate to–and chuckle at–
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new year’s day
the dog doesn’t know I wish
to sleep more
*
Srinivasa Rao Sambaing
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I really love the way the stone statue is juxtaposed with the substance of Christ’s message in this next one by Aljoša. An apt reminder of how easy it can be to worship the man while neglecting to embody the message, it calls to mind, “To err is human, to forgive divine.” [Alexander Pope, 1711]. There is a path forward inherent in forgiveness of ourselves and others, a welcome one for 2020.
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New Year
next to the statue of Jesus
I decided to forgive
*
Aljoša Vuković
Šibenik, Croatia
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From Steve comes an honest acknowledgment of “so much to do, so little time.” How overwhelming it can be to consider all the actions and improvements called for in this moment. Our growing awareness seems to multiply problems like so many snowflakes in a blizzard, until we are left in “deep mourning.” But, come “morning,” there is stillness in the snow’s drifted accumulation. If only we can allow the swirling flakes to settle, we might find ourselves beholding a clean white page. We can then engage at a “deep” level, working one poem/one page, at a time; and if the notebook fills, perhaps we can even begin a new one.
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more resolutions
than the notebook can hold
deep morning snow
*
Steve Tabb
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Next, John gives us a perfect snapshot of the state of our modern affairs. Sadly, very little is new about our leaders resolving to do nothing; apparently, the current situation is working for them. I really admire the choice of the word “agree,” as it implies the tacit collusion between those in positions of power. Though perhaps unintentional, I see this senryu as a covert call to action to all of us “followers”: If our leadership will not act, than we will. Excellent rallying poem for 2020, John.
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new resolution
our leaders agree
to do nothing
*
john hawkhead
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Kathabela wisely offers us a possible place to begin that action in her senryu. First, she allows things to pass through her like wind through leaves, centered and unperturbed in the midst of any turbulence. Then, by assuming tree pose, she puts herself in a place of empathetic oneness with nature. Trees are rooted in both earth and sky. In aligning ourselves with them, we too become part of the symbolic “world tree” and begin to enact the meaning of “As above, so below.” Lovely, Kathabela…thank you.
*
wind in leaves
my resolve to do tree pose
every day
*
Kath Abela Wilson
Pasadena, California
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Christina offers an alternative solution: stop making resolutions. Resolutions are tied to hope in many ways–we hope that in making them, we will take the necessary actions to achieve their stated goals. But too often, we stop at the resolutions themselves (consider the ubiquitous resolutions to lose weight, or stop smoking; consider the Paris Climate Accords) and fail to engage in the required work. Both hope and resolutions put the solution “out there” somewhere in an imagined future. Better to put boots on the ground where we stand now and actively engage in meaningful change.
*
new year
I stop making
resolutions
*
Christina Chin
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A good poet friend of mine offers another alternative to New Year’s resolutions. Each year, she chooses a single word, the meaning of which she works to embody. As you might guess from my senryu, my word for 2020 is “acceptance.” What might yours be…?
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Wishing each of you the very best and extending my gratitude to all for helping me to engage poetically here on THF.
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~Autumn

Thanks Autumn, I’m so glad you like my senryu. I intend to become more active in 2020 to put pressure on leaders I can reach because it’s clear we are being led by buffoons the world over. All the best, John

Thank you Lori and the team for your efforts during the year – most appreciated. I would mention these four this week:-
.
same as last year
I’ll quit
after I finish this one
– Charles Harmon
.
skiing in Vermont
my first fall –
the full moon in the distance
– Julia Guzmán
.
new resolution
our leaders agree
to do nothing
– john hawkhead
.
to forget her –
keep forgetting
year after year
– Vishnu Kapoor
.

Happy Haiku New Year! Thank you for including my haiku here. Kathy, Craig, Lori M. and Lori Z., for your awesome efforts, you have my gratitude and appreciation. I look forward to reading the haiku each week here. It is a highlight.

Thanks to everyone who keeps this dialogue going! And thank you to all the poets who share your thoughtful, poignant, quirky haiku! I look forward to reading them every week. Also thank you for including mine. See you all next week!

Thanks to everyone associated with this column week after week. What a monumental task you’ve taken on. Enjoy your week off. Wishing everyone a peaceful New year and many haiku moments.
Now to read all these gems again.

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i love this one….of course, i am partial to dogs….but this is such a fresh poem….a real haiku moment and an honest window into the first morning of the NEW YEAR. as, i sleep with two little lap dogs…i know how their patterns don’t change…as if they have small alarm clocks inside them…every four hours they let me know when it is feeding time, i don’t walk them, they use potty pads….but most dogs will need to go out and will do a great deal of activities to get the attention of their master to make it happen before it is too late. very relatable for pet owners…who maybe were up late celebrating NEW YEAR’S EVE.

A wonderful selection of ambition from many contributors, with others pointing beyond to hopes for the greater goodness of mankind, and a few rather more sad reflections.
Thank you for this inspiring series Lori M, and for the entirety of these months of work from kj, Craig and Lori Z.
To all, the very best of peace, health and happy writing throughout 2020.

Thank you Kathy, Lori M, Craig, Lori Z and all contributors for a wonderful year of haiku. Today’s read was moving, inspirational and at times humorous…a perfect read for day one. Best wishes to all in the coming year.

Thank you to all the unseen who keep this section of THF going no matter what. Look forward to the next exciting session.
Wishing you all a creative New Year.
.
A marvellous collection of verses, well done to all poets.

Roberta I very much liked your haiku…
.
new year’s day
my resolution covered
in chocolate
.
with its dual meaning of resolution – or should I say triple meaning (see Helen Buckingham’s below):-
.
grief
new year
no resolution
.

Thank you, dear editors, for accepting my haiku.
I thoroughly enjoy reading every one of your selections and excited to be a part of it.
…
May your days be merry and bright, 2020 be filled with love, and enjoy good health!